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02-26-2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week
Ephemeris for Ash Wednesday, February 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 6:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:24. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:28 this evening.
Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week. Venus is our evening star shining brightly in the southwest in the early evening. It will set at 10:19 p.m. Mars is visible in the morning sky and will rise in the southeast at 4:27 a.m. It’s not very bright because it’s 161 million (260 million km) miles away, but it’s getting slowly closer to the Earth at the rate of about 6 million miles (9 million km) a week. However it’s brighter than Betelgeuse. Jupiter will rise at 5:06 a.m. Lastly, Saturn will rise at 5:39 tomorrow morning. Jupiter is currently about 9 degrees away from Saturn, a bit less than the width of your fist held at arms length. It will continue to approach Saturn until their paths cross on December 21st.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and the Moon in the western sky at 7:30 p.m. or about an hour after sunset. February 26, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
The morning planets and stars visible in the southern sky at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning February 37, 2020. The star Antares is in the constellation of Scorpius. Mars sits on top of the lid of the Teapot asterism of the constellation of Sagittarius the archer. Jupiter and Saturn are seen to the lower left. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The planets as seen in a telescope with the same magnification. Venus in the evening and Jupiter and Saturn in the morning on the night of February 26/27, 2020. Apparent diameters: Venus, 18.3″; Jupiter, 34.0″; Saturn, 15.4″, rings, 36.0″. Mars at 5.4″ won’t be added until it reaches 10″. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on February 26, 2020. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 27th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
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